Eastern Townships. 49 



of Inverness and Halifax, exist a chain of small lakes, not 

 remarkable for their scenery, but very romantic withal from 

 their diversity of hill and dale ; these lakes are connected 

 with one another by short rivers and rapids. Lake Joseph 

 is in Inverness, on the road to Halifax, a small village 

 twelve miles from Somerset Station, which lies on Lake 

 William, opposite to the village of St. Ferdinand. This 

 lake is about four miles long and one wide ; it is separated 

 from Trout Lake by a deep, crooked river, navigable for 

 canoes only. There is excellent fishing in all these waters ; 

 trout of all sizes, white fish, very large eels and pike are 

 abundant. The only accommodation to be had is at St. Fer- 

 dinand, where there is no difficulty in obtaining the use of a 

 boat. Near Trout Lake is the small village of Maple 

 Grove, connected with B6cancour Station by a daily stage. 

 The river connecting these lakes has no name, until a little 

 below Lake Joseph, it takes the name of Thames, which 

 again further down at Lloyd's Falls — a romantic spot, and 

 where good trout fishing is to be had — is called the Becancour. 

 Each branch of the Nicolet River is supplied from a lake 

 among the mountains, and throughout this vast tract of 

 country there can be found numbers of streams affording 

 water power which might be turned to profitable account with 

 no great outlay of capital. At a distance of sixty-four miles 

 from Quebec is Arthabaska, the junction of the Three 

 Rivers branch of the Grand Trunk Railway, near which, at 

 Chester, are two mines very rich in copper ore, and alsp a 

 lead mine, whilst in South Ham, still further south, is a 

 valuable antimony mine and a lovely lake abounding with 

 trout, called Lake Nicolet. Ten miles from the station, in 

 Chester, is situated Rouillard Mountain, forty miles 

 distant in a direct line from the St. Lawrence : yet from the 

 summit of the mountain, on a clear day, that river can be 

 distinctly seen with a glass ; the forest between the mountain 

 and the river forms to the eye a most beautiful variegated 



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